34th Sunday in Ordinary
Time Year A and Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe-Nov. 26, 2023
Ezekiel
34: 11-12; 1 Corinthians 15: 20-26, 28; Matthew 25: 31-46
Theme: Jesus Christ, King of the Universe will Judge all
Nations
Congratulations
to all of us for we have completed this liturgical calendar year A. We have
journeyed with our Lord Jesus Christ from his birth through his ministry,
Passion, death, Resurrection, and Ascension, and into the growth of the Church
and the spread of the Word of God to all nations. Today, we celebrate the end
of the liturgical year with the Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the
Universe. The Church, our Mother, suggests to us the Scriptures readings that
talk about the end of time and final judgment. In the first reading, the
prophet Ezekiel prophesized to the wicked leaders of the people of Israel that one
day, God himself will shepherd the flocks (Israelites) that they scattered. Ezekiel’s
prophecy is fulfilled in Jesus who, according to Saint Paul in our second
reading, will hand over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed
every ruler and every authority and power (1 Corinthians 15: 24). Jesus, “the
first fruit”, as Paul calls him, “must reign until he has put all his enemies
under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” (1 Corinthians 15: 25,
NRSVCE). The Evangelist Matthew, in our Gospel passage, tells us how this final
judgment will be. Jesus Christ will sit on the throne of his glory and pass
sentence on all of us separating the righteous at his right hand from the wicked
at the left. Those at his right hand will inherit the kingdom of heaven while the
wicked will be thrown into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his
angels. The judgment will be based on what you and I do or do not do now to whom
Jesus calls “the least of these who are members of my family” (Matthew 25: 40,
45). By selecting these Bible readings, the Church wants to teach us that the
end of time (either the return of our Lord or the day of our death) and the
final judgment are real. So, we need to prepare ourselves accordingly and be
watchful.
The
Church has started preparing us for the end of time and the final judgment over
the past two Sundays during which we have been meditating on Chapter 25 of the
Gospel of Matthew. The first part (vv. 1-13) was the parable of the Ten Virgins
that we read on Sunday, November 12th. These ten virgins went to
meet with the bridegroom. The narrator said that five of them were wise and the
other five were foolish. The key question in this parable was what made the
first group wise and what made the other group foolish? Note that all of them
were virgins, which means, they represent all baptized. Each of them had a lamp
(the lamp symbolizes our personal relationship with God), and each had oil in
her lamp. Oil stands for prayers, Masses, sacraments, and charity work. The way
the lamp cannot function without oil is the same way our relationships with God
cannot stand without prayers, Masses, and all the good things we do for our
Church and God’s people. Then if all of them had all of these, what really made
the first five virgins wise and the other five foolish? Note that the
difference between the wise and foolish is that the wise pre-brought “extra
oil” that they used when the existing oil dried out because the bridegroom was
delayed in coming. The foolish ones did not have extra oil. So, when their
existing oil dried out, they had nothing to use to trim their lamps. “Extra
oil” here stands for the extra time that we spend in prayers and the sacraments,
especially in the celebration of the Eucharist (Mass) and confession. It is the
“extra” love and generosity with which we help God’s people, love them, and
forgive them. We cannot be content to come to Mass on Sundays only because it
is the day of obligation. We, the “wise” Christians, need to listen to Jesus in
the Scriptures and receive his Body and Blood in the Holy Communion as often as
we can. We should not be content to use the sacrament of Confession once or
twice a year because it is prescribed like that. We, the “wise” Christians,
should go to confession as often as it is necessary and as soon as possible to
make sure that we are reconciled and in a good relationship with God. When we
help people, love them, and forgive them, we should not stop when we think that
we have reached the limit. We, the “wise” Christians, help, love, and forgive the
people with “extra” generosity and love without counting and without limit. Because
we do not know the day or the hour of the end of time (either the second coming
of our Lord or the day of our death), this parable taught us to always have
“extra oil” which strengthens our relationships with God and with our fellow
humans. By doing so, we stay awake and sober as Saint Paul exhorted us in the
second reading.
The second part of Chapter
25 (vv. 14-30) is the parable of the Talents that we read last Sunday. To
prepare ourselves for the end of time and its last judgment, this parable
taught us not to bury the baptismal gifts that we receive from God but to use
them and build the reign of God where we live. Jesus compares the kingdom of
heaven to a man who was going on a journey, called in his three servants, and
entrusted his possessions to each of them. He expected them to invest in them.
The first servant received five talents, the second two talents, and the third
one talent, each according to his ability. The parable states that the first
two servants did great jobs by doubling their master’s money. In recognition of
their efforts, the master called them “faithful servants” and he authorized
them to share in his “joy”. “‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since
you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities.
Come, share your master’s joy.’” (Vv. 21, 23). The third servant, however, was
not invited to share his master’s “joy” because instead of investing his
master’s money, he chose to bury it. When the time for accounting arrived, he
returned the same amount of money without any interest. Consequently, the
master treated him as a “wicked”, “lazy”, and “useless” servant. He had him be
thrown into the darkness outside, where there was wailing and grinding of
teeth. God has given us gifts according to our abilities. He expects us to use
them and transform our societies, neighborhoods, Church communities, and families.
Let us not be afraid to use our baptismal gifts. We will be judged on what we
did with God’s gifts.
The third and last part of
Chapter 25 of the Gospel of Matthew is the story of the Judgment of the Nations
that we have heard today. In the context of the Solemnity of Jesus Christ, King
of the Universe, this passage, like the previous two, prepares us for the end
of time and the last judgment. The Gospel says that all nations will be
gathered before Jesus Christ, King of the Universe for the final judgment. The
criterion for the judgment will be based on what you and I do or do not do now
to our brothers and sisters whom Jesus calls, “the least of these who are
members of my family” (v. 40, 45). This expression refers to the poor,
marginalized, sick, prisoners, and all those who need our love, forgiveness, assistance,
and protection, including the environment which today needs careful protection
from all of us. To be counted among the righteous who will be at the right hand
of Jesus, let us love everyone, forgive them, and assist them whenever they
need us. What we do to our fellow humans, we do to Jesus.
The meditation on the full
Chapter 25 during these three Sundays in a row prepares us very well to know
what we need to do while we are waiting for the end of time and the final
judgment. We must always have “extra oil in our lamps”, meaning that we must
always have extra time for prayers, sacraments (especially Mass and
confession), and charity works. We must work on Baptismal gifts that we have to
transform wherever we live. And we must love, forgive, and assist everyone who is
in need. If we observe all of these, we should never be afraid of the end of
time or the final judgment because we know that we are the righteous ones who
are at Jesus' right hand waiting for him to say to us, “Well done, my good and
faithful servant (…) Come, share your master’s joy.” (vv. 21, 23, NABRE). “Come,
you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world.” (v. 34, NABRE). That time, we will feast with him in
the Heavenly Wedding Banquet. Amen.
Rev. Leon
Ngandu, SVD
No comments:
Post a Comment